Happies

 Some things that make me smile:

Siamese Stack (from bottom to top- Smudge, Misty, Badger and Bandit)

Giant Sunflowers in the autumn wind

Finding red leaves instead of the ubiquitous yellow

and finally having one of the kittens trust me enough to pet her every day. 

Ah Autumn

 Autumn is my favourite season! The leaves were falling like raindrops from some of the trees, and fall colours are popping. The last week of killing frosts have really helped get rid of the flies- yay!  The horses are much happier. 

Yes Ruby, I see those 2 flies on you., I said most of them, not all! 

Mama Belle is doing well. I had a fellow come out to do her teeth and trim Ruby and Beamer- but he won't be coming back here. Ever. He did minimal work on her teeth, and the crappiest trim job Beamer has ever had. On top of that, he was liberal with the f bomb and there were several other things I didn't like but won't mention. 

Ruby and Velvet are looking .... fluffy... the baby bellies are starting to show and the unlimited pasture is definitely getting them bulked up for winter... that's my story and I'm sticking to it! I do have my track system set up so that they have to come all the way in for shelter and water; they often gallop in and /or out. Beamer is finally putting weight on  after the last few months of pacing his fenceline calling for his mares. Now that Belle is in an adjacent pen to him, he can see at least one mare all the time. He spent a lot of time galloping from the top of his pen to the barn, which kept him in shape and kept those arthritic knees limbered up, but now it's time to slow down and chill out. 

I'm having trouble getting motivated to ride. Maybe now that things have settled into a routine- no more breeding and I have Belle's routine sorted out- I can focus on Ruby. Belle and Velvet can keep each other company when I take Ruby out, that should help Velvet to keep from calling out. So- no more excuses. Up and ride!

Hobbles

 Edited to add another informative post

We got the hard frost I was waiting for- the last 3 nights in a row now. It has slowed the flies down but hasn't completely sent them packing. 

I worked with Ruby the other day.  She and Velvet came in one day all covered in either bites or hives, I suspect ground wasp or biting flies because there were bald patches under the swellings, and those triangle shaped biting flies were horrible for a while. 

Looks worse because I had covered the bites with an ointment I got from my sister:

It definitely helped. Plantain is considered a weed but it is so very beneficial. 

Since these bites are in the cinch and saddle area, riding isn't an option until they go away, should be soon though. So it was hobble training time. 

I start with getting them to lead by the front feet. With a green colt I would take longer doing this to make sure they are solid, but with Ruby it was plain that she had done this before. 

A couple of times with each foot, then I moved on to the rope around her legs. I use a soft cotton rope at first, and tie with a fair amount of width between their feet  to begin with, to see how they handle it. 

Note that I tied the quick release knot with the wrong end.... but I fixed it. 

Next, make the distance between the legs shorter. 

 Once again, Ruby was fine with this.

Nuthin' to see here folks, just a hobble broke horse!

Since Ruby originally came from a cowboy home, I am thinking they did hobble train her. However, since she's a double swirl horse, I will do this a few times just to make sure she's solid . 

I was asked about the steps to hobble training. Here is a list I borrowed from Mills Consilient Horsemanship facebook page: 

* Ground tying.
* Confident responses to halter pressure forward, back, and to the side.
* Tying with the tie ring with 1 wrap, then 2.
* Tying solid.
* Leading by the feet.
* Hobbling with a loose wrap and making sure the horse can steer from the hindquarters and small step without feeling unbalanced.
* Hobbling with a tighter wrap
* Hobbling with a quick release.
* Hobbling solid.

The 1st 4, I usually do by the time the horse is a long yearling. I usually do the lead by a foot in the fall of their long yearling year, as well as any other rope work. I haven't hobble trained for many years, but the rest of the list is the method I use, but I put the quick release there right from the first loose wrap.

EDITED to add a link to a more in depth post on hobble training for those of you who are interested. 

From Good Horsemanship-Ross Jacobs

Bye Pie

 Today we said adieu to Gussie and Pie; Shayla picked them up and took them to the farm of the lady who is buying Pie. Gussie will stay there too until weaning time sometime in February. 

This lovely filly is sweet as.. well... Pie  but she is also a little firecracker. Lots of speed and fancy maneuvers which I never could quite capture on the camera. She's very quick footed! 

She will be living at the same place that Sassy was sold to. Remember Sassy? She was the roan mare bred to Beamer who had the colt Booncat.

Coyote Belle and Gussie really bonded again, it was sad to separate them once more. They truly are BFF's. 

Belle is doing well. She is gaining weight back slowly, and seems to be quite content. She was very good for the farrier, and he was very patient and understanding of her needs. 

She was so relaxed with him! He's from Scotland and raises Charollais sheep, shows them too and won some championships at the sheep shows this summer. 

 Belle's colt made it to his new home too. 

He's another big colt, and you can see that Belle put everything into him at her own expense. This is likely to be her last foal. I don't think she is breeding sound anymore unless she gets a Caslicks, and she really has given us enough foals, time for her to retire too. 

That big ole knee will eventually fuse like Beamer's did. She's getting around well enough on it for now. I think she's happy here. She loves getting extra attention and of course, she loves Beamer! His pen is across the alley form her and he keeps an eye on her. 

Now that breeding season is over, it's time to devote my attention back on Ruby and Velvet, who are both getting... ahem... large. 

We are still getting lovely sunny days, not too hot. Perfect for getting Ruby worked again, but we sure could use a good hard frost to get rid of the flies. 

Sunrise on a smoky day, before the rain drove the smoke away. 

Wordless Wednesday

 

A couple of whatsits

 Hey all you birders, can you identify this bird for me? I have looked through my books and I think it's some kind of juvenile warbler but no idea which one. 

It was perched on the bird house and watching for bugs on the lawn, then flying down to grab a bug and return to its perch. 

My garden is nearly done, no frost yet but we have been close. The gladiolus are blooming finally though!

Gussie finally came in heat and Beamer covered her, it will be a mid August foal next year. Gussie and Pie head home on the weekend. 

I have really enjoyed having them here! 

We fenced off a major portion of the rest of the farm that is part of our rental. It was already fenced on the north and east with barb wire which has a strand of electrified wire , so I am not concerned about them leaning on it, and the west side is bordered by the new hot wire pen that we built last month. So it was just posts and 2 strands of white electric tape to cross fence- made for a fairly easy job. I figured the measurements out at 15 acres.

There are 2 drawbacks to offset the benefit of having all that pasture- no access to the automatic waterer, so it's tubs and hoses to water them, and their only shelter is trees at the far end. At some point we will figure out a track system to get them into the shelter pen which has the waterer. Before winter!

 Ideally, this will be a winter grazing pen once we get the track system built. 

Here's another "identify this" I need help with. We have all these mushrooms popping up, and I want to know if they are edible. 

The stem

Beauty and the beast(s)

The  filly is spoken for by Shayla's best friend! So nice that she will be where we can watch her as she matures. And she has a barn name- they wanted Huckleberry which was inspired by the pie they had when thinking up names, so I am calling her Pie- because she's just as sweet as pie! Today when picking up her feet, she let me hold them and make a little circle with the foot and then set it on the ground. Good girl, Pie!

I finally got a video of her galloping in from pasture too. 

Let me lead, mama, you're too slow!

That filly has wheels! But she doesn't get all amped up, just walks over and socializes right away. 

The next step is to introduce her to a halter. 

Gussie hasn't come in her foal heat yet, but I think by Wednesday that big ole blue moon will fix that. 

 I haven't seen her drinking water yet, but she was on the salt today. It's been hot the last few days so she probably needed it. And she has toofers coming through to help with all that grass and hay she eats. 

Then there's the beasts... first, the cute ones!

Kitty toes!

Turns out only Smudge is a male of that litter, Badger and Misty are definitely females. 

Then there are the coyotes, the reason I lock up my mares in pens during the night, 

Take a listen and turn up the volume. This was about 100 yards from Beamer's barn. They were across the river.

I imagine they will be howling at the blue full moon on Wednedsday!

4 days old

 The as yet unnamed filly is 4 days old now and what a sweetheart she is! 

She comes up and greets me, loves her butt scratches and has progressed to having chest and neck scratches and I can pet her all over. 

She volunteers to come up and initiate touch. So friendly!

I have had them turned out on pasture since day 2, and she has started eating grass- yes she has a tooth erupting- and she's also eating hay now. 

This morning she let me run my hands over all 4 legs, so I asked her to pick up her feet- and she had no hesitation in letting me do that. So I asked her again this evening. 

I haven't tried haltering, that can wait for when Shayla comes to see her. I think it will go fairly easy though!

She does little high speed spurts, but I haven't caught a good video or photo of that yet. 

I do bring them into the barn pen at night, we have a rather large band of coyotes here and I'm not willing to leave the horses out at night. 

The cats occupy the same barn as Gussie, so the filly is getting used to having them dart in and out. 

Badger

Smudge and big brother Bandit

Breakfast time

Beautiful things

 There's always beauty to be found, so here's what I found around the farm. 

Wordless Wednesday

 

The wait is over!

 My nights of camping out in the barn are done! Just before midnight, Gussie went into labour and the foal was born at 12:07. 

And- it's a filly! Also- it's just what Shayla ordered- a blue roan. 

All went well, Gussie had a fairly easy birthing, the foal lay there for a while as the nutrients were passed through the umbilical cord, and Gussie cleaned shortly thereafter. 

Two feet and a nose- just the way it should be

Calmly laying there taking in her new surroundings

Mama's first touch

Up and steady on her feet before too long

I shuffled them into the barn as baby was wandering all over  which is not conducive to getting that first colostrum milk in her! That helped settle her and she drank, passed her meconium plug, loped circles around her mama, then had a good long nap. Gussie got hay and water and some rest- although she still is not getting much sleep. She hasn't laid down to sleep since she got here. 

Come daylight, I turned them out. 

Such a lovely filly!

Pretty little head and a perfect swirl.

That's a lot of leg to grow into!

Velvet and Ruby spotted them and came a running up to the fenceline to check out the new arrival. Gussie herded her baby away from them, and when the filly laid down for another nap, she stood guard over her. Eventually I put them back in the barn for a while so Gussie could eat and rest some more. They will get a lot more turnout though and have free access to the barn from now on. 

Food for thought

 

I found a facebook page that really opened my eyes about foal handling and how it affects the rest of their life. 

It made me see all the mistakes I have made over the decades- and although I was halfway there to doing things in a better way, I still have a long way to go to do things in the best possible way for the little darlings. 

Here is an excerpt from his page. (With permission) The writer is Mark Deesing and he works with Temple Grandin. 

Horse Behaviorist UT

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7

Horse Welfare, Laterality, Hair Whorls, Cognitive Bias & Early Experience: Factors that Affecting Bonding with Humans

Before discussing my "new school" approach to factors affecting bonding with humans during the pre-weaning stage of development, I want to explain the behaviors shown by colts and fillies raised in the "old school" traditions that contribute to welfare concerns. The experiences horses have before being "broke to ride" indicate underlying issues from intensive handling and anxiety from forced handling in the pre-and post-weaning stages of development, leading to impaired psychological functioning.

The foal in the picture is Bill. I bought and gave Bill to Temple Grandin as a symbolic gift. She asked, " What will I do with a horse?" I said, "Whatever you want, he's yours to decide." I told her she could give him away, sell him, or you can leave him here, and I'll raise him. She said, "Okay. You raise him." I said alright, but you gotta name him; he's your horse. So she named him after her High School science teacher and mentor, William Carlock. If you ever saw the movie about Temple, with Claire Danes, the Academy Award-winning actor David Strathairn played William Carlock (Bill).

I bought Bill from an Arabian breeder who was "old school." When I bought him, Bill was wearing a halter, dragging a lead rope about six feet long, and tripping on it as he ran from us. The woman and I trapped him in the barn and dragged him to my trailer, where I physically had to pick him up and lift him in.

When I got home, I put Bill in a big stall on my ranch with my friendliest horse Jim for company. I went into the stall daily and sat on a stool with a bucket of grain, carrots, and apple slices. Jim tried to hog it all, but Bill watched Jim and soon wanted some for himself. I waited for Bill to approach me and made myself small by sitting on the stool and not making eye contact with him. I was trying to figure out what treat he found irresistible. As it turned out, the apple slices did the trick and got him to approach me. To make a long story short, it took three weeks before I could touch him and get the halter off his head, which he had outgrown and was causing a deep furrow in his nose. After three more weeks, I had shifted his cognitive bias back from the pessimist he had become to the natural left-cowlick optimist he was by nature. Afterward, I turned him out with the other horses and began to handle him about once a week. Jim and Bill were inseparable after that, but Bill followed me everywhere when I was out in the corrals picking up poop. He grew up to be a well-adjusted horse with splendid behavior.

What I say next may upset people and cause some denial, but if you don't know the complete history of your horse from the day it was born, then you can't be sure your horse's early experiences haven't had some detrimental effects on its behavior. How I learned to raise horses has shown me that the "old school" way I used in the past caused the same problems I saw in Bill.

The early stages of emotional development are full of potential conflict. A young horse's experiences polarize into "pleasure and fear extremes." When these opposite feelings are combined, anyone with a horse about Bill's age can see the early stages of impaired psychological functioning when they approach the foal. It comes up to you, but when you reach to touch it, the foal backs up (approach, retreat, approach, retreat). I believe this happens after people traumatize them with early forced handling and follow-up by giving them affection and food rewards. It develops into a conflict of emotions horses have with people that sometimes lasts a lifetime.

In their minds, on the one hand, they learn to love us for the good things we provide but still fear us for the bad and scary things we did to them. Horses lack the cognitive capacity to think, "Well, Mark gives me all these good treats and butt scratches, so I should forgive him for the scary things he did to me when I was little. They hold these memories SEPARATELY in both the optimistic and pessimistic sides of the brain. Scientists smarter than me found the left side controls approach behaviors, and the right side controls avoidance behaviors (remember, it's the opposite in right cowlick horses). It's a conflict of emotions and the beginning of psychopathology (abnormal behavior). As these conflicting memories build up through early life experiences, they create the antecedent excentricities (antecedent means a thing or event that happened before, and excentricities mean strange or unexplainable behavior) that develop patterns of abnormal behaviors that differ in low, middle, and high cowlick horses. Linda Telling-Jones and others possibly identified these patterns of abnormal behaviors and called them PERSONALITY. It may also explain why the horse world is divided fifty/fifty on the predictive value of hair whorls on personality and behavior. Not all horses have these negative previous experiences and don't fit the patterns identified in the "personality profiles" some people claim. In other cases, the negative experiences early on may be overridden by extremely positive experiences following early negative experiences.

In the "old school" approach, horses with low whorls develop predictable patterns of abnormal behaviors. Horses with middle hair whorls develop predictable patterns of abnormal behaviors, and horses with high whorls develop predictable patterns. Horses with double whorls develop unique and often unpredictable behaviors, all of which people refer to as PERSONALITY----but in reality, they may be abnormal behavior patterns caused by dysfunctional environmental influences beginning in infancy.

If your horse has lateral behavior when ridden, or rides well but won't go in a trailer, or won't stand for a farrier, or won't tie at the hitching post, or won't enter a starting gate at the track, or is a dirty stopper on a show jumping course, or foams at the mouth during dressage competition, or swishes it's tail, or is hard to catch, or hates the vet, or throws its head and needs a tie down, or has a cold back, or any of the many other behavior problems horses have may not be personality differences, but maladaptive behavior. When I explained this to Temple Grandin a couple of days ago, she told me she attended a dressage competition in Canada recently, and the horse that won was the only one that wasn't foaming at the mouth.

As defined in human and animal psychology, maladaptive behavior prevents us from making adjustments in our best interest. Avoidance, withdrawal, and passive aggression are examples of maladaptive behaviors. Wouldn't it be in a horse's best interest to stand still for a farrier and get it over with so it can return to its supper? Why put up such a fight when it's much easier to go along? Wouldn't that be in their best interest?

One of the first questions I asked myself 45 years ago at horseshoeing school was, "If horses are as smart as people say, why is it so hard to teach them something as simple as standing still for shoeing?" The answer I came up with years later was FEAR, plain and simple. Fear from previous experiences inhibits learning and explains why correcting common problems with horses is sometimes tricky, if not impossible. I finally got through to Bill and gained his trust by doing JUST THE OPPOSITE of what everyone else had done with him. And for all the other problems listed above, I found solutions for those too and intend to feature them individually in future posts.

Oh Gussie

 I swear there is no more room in that belly!

Gussie is a big mare, and the sire was 16 hh, so I expect this to be a big foal. Color options are sorrel, red roan, black or blue roan. The sire carried one copy of red so the chances of a red based foal are probably 75% although, the same chances as what she had with Beamer and she had 2 blue roans, a black, and a red roan from him. So you never know!

I had just bathed her to cool down from the heat (she loves baths) and of course she had to roll. What a belly! I put the white tape up to keep her from rolling in a nearby patch of dirt.  At night she hangs out in the barn; I keep the door open so she can go out for foaling as the stalls in there are rather small. I have my cot set up in there- I must say I sleep well there with all that fresh air! Of course, I also have Thumper and Foose for company!

I have a feeling that she will foal shortly after Wednesday's new moon. 

No foal yet....

 I don't have any foal photos to share yet. Gussie is still holding the little fellow hostage! 

Poor girl, I'm sure she's tired of packing all that weight around!

I do have some neat photos to share though! My bathroom window overlooks the river and as I looked out I could see something- 3 somethings- moving across the river. So I grabbed my big camera and went for a look see. 

To my surprise, it was 3 fledgling Great Horned Owls! what a blessing to get to see them! I only had a short time to take photos as they spotted me so forgive the lack of sharp focus. I had my camera set on action and snapped hurriedly. 

3...

2...

1...

and they were gone into the forest. I was surprised at how large they are.